Thieves now Targeting Credit Card Readers

(UPI) — In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a group of thieves have a new target: credit card machines.

WCCO reports the thieves are stealing the machines right off the counter. They then reportedly use the machines to steal money and put it on credit cards.

One man said he became a victim when two women came into where he worked, one of them asked for help. That proved to be all the time the other woman needed, when he came back, the credit card machine was gone.

The man who was the victim, Edwin Chile said he wondered what they thieves were going to do with it. Wondering, “What are they going to do with the machine? They can’t even sell it at a pawn shop because nobody’s going to buy it,” Chile said.

Hours later, the alleged thieves starting pulling money out of his checking account–$16,000 in all.

The cunning criminals also made of with $200,000 after police said they stole three credit card machines from another business.

Police are now telling businesses to bolt down their credit card machines so they too don’t become a victim.